Raymond O. Joyal was born in 1915 in New Hampshire. He was the son of Peter W. and Nancy Lovocie Hagy Staley. He enlisted in the Army on December 13, 1941 at Fort Deven's, Massachusetts. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Driver and also as Single, without dependents. He resided in Merrimack County, New Hampshire prior to the war. Raymond served as a Technician Fifth Grade, 478th Amphibious Truck Company, U.S. Army during World War III. He was killed during the Exercise Tiger--one of the large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This took place in April 1944 in Slapton Sands, Devon in the UK. An Allied naval convoy involved in the exercise was attacked by German submarines, and coordination and communication problems resulted in friendly fire deaths. At least 749 American servicemen were killed. Because of the impending invasion of Normandy, the incident was highly classified and the full story did not come out until years later after the war. Raymond is now buried in Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.